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Reikhalzend

"Reikhalzend" is composed of "reik" and "halzend" from respectively "reiken" and "hals". "Reiken" translates to "to reach" and "hals" translates to "neck". "Reikhalzend" would literally be something like "neck stretching"… 🙂

"Reikhalzend" is often used in combination with the verb "uitkijken naar": to look forward to. So, "reikhalzend uitkijken naar" would literally translate to "to look longingly forward to".

– "Frank kijkt reikhalzend uit naar een nieuwe liefde…" – "Kansloos, hij is de koning van de knipperlichtrelatie." ("Frank is yearning for a new love…" – "Hopeless, he's the king of the on-off relationship.")

Expressions:– "De wens is de vader van de gedachte": (lit.: the wish is the father of the thought) wishful thinking, used when you believe something because you want it to be true.– "Hoop doet leven": (lit.: hope does living) hope springs eternal.

Extra:Because of the soccer world championship 2010, our small country is in the picture quite a bit now…here's a little bit more info on the name of our beloved country: the official name of our country is "Nederland". However, the country "Nederland" is part of a kingdom: "het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden": the Kingdom of the Netherlands. So, the English name for our country – the Netherlands <plural> – refers actually to our kingdom, which is in fact incorrect: it should be Netherland (but we forgive you 🙂 ). The word "neder" is synonymous to "laag": low. Sometimes, the Netherlands are referred to – in a historical context – as "De Lage Landen" (or "De Nederlanden"): the Low Countries, which are the historical lands
around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt,
and Meuse rivers, including the modern
countries of Belgium, the Netherlands,
Luxembourg
and parts of northern France and western Germany. You may have heard from the Dutch popfestival Lowlands, which is quite popular in the Netherlands.

To increase the confusion, the name of our country "Nederland" is also often translated with "Holland". However…"Holland" is the name of an important historical province in the Netherlands. Currently there are two 'Holland provinces': Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland (North Holland and South Holland). But because this province was so important in the past, its name has apparently become an equivalent for the whole country…

To confuse you even more, let's take a quick look at the adjective "Dutch". This is an (English) derivation of "Diets" or "Dietsch", a collective name for a number of closely related dialects which were spoken and written between 1150 and 1500 in the Netherlands, from which later standard Dutch would be derived. "Dutch" and "Diets(ch)" are also etymologically related to "Duits", which, in modern Dutch, translates to "German", which translates to "Deutsch" in the German language…still following?? 😉 Anyhow, the Dutch call themselves "Nederlanders", literally: Netherlanders or Lowlanders.

It seems that if you add the adjective "Dutch" to something, it gets a negative connotation, for example the phrase "go Dutch" or "Dutch treat". This can be traced back to a time when England and the Netherlands fought constantly over trade routes and political boundaries during the 17th century. The British used the term "Dutch" in a number or derogatory or demeaning ways, including "Dutch courage" (bravery through alcohol) and "Dutch treat", which was actually no treat at all. The Dutch were said to be very stingy with their wealth, almost miserly, so the British used the word "Dutch" informally to imply all sorts of negative behaviours… <from wiseGEEK>

And finally, if you're wondering why we refer to our national soccer team – in fact, every Dutch national sports team – as "Oranje", well…that's because our royal family is from the house of Oranje-Nassau. "Oranje" translates to "orange", as you probably would have guessed…Also check out Oranjekoorts!

Adding to the “Dutch/Deutsch” confusion is the fact that there are a number of terms in both British and American English that use the word “Dutch” to mean “Deutsch.” In Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, mention is made of a “Dutch clock,” which was actually a German style; the “Pennsylvania Dutch” are actually of (mostly) German descent; and many German immigrants (and their descendants) have similarly been nicknamed “Dutch” (e.g. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character in Predator, Major Alan “Dutch” Schaeffer).